Blue Moon
by KateTheCat
Summary: Bella Swan came to Forks expecting small town life to be easy. She never expected to become a werewolf, almost die of starvation, imprint on Edward Cullen, a vampire, or fight for her life against a sadistic werewolf hunter who's hell-bent on her destruction. AU. UP FOR ADOPTION
1. Chapter 1

Bella's POV

I soaked up the last of the sunlight that I was going to get for a long time. My mother spoke as we walked out of the sun to the gate.

"You know, Bella, you don't have to do this," she said referring to my self exile. "You could travel with me and Phil." Ah, the reason for my separation. Renee and Phil were going to travel. A lot. Because Phil works in minor league baseball. His latest assignment took him to Jacksonville Florida. My mother had stayed with me in Phoenix but I could see that it was making her unhappy to stay away from Phil. So I decided it was high time to spend some quality time with Charlie, my dad.

"No thanks."

"Oh, come on, Bella, you detest Forks," she said. Forks, Washington, the place I was moving. My mother was right; I resented Forks because of its freezing climate and sunless sky.

"I love you, Mom, bye," I said. Then I got on the plane and she was gone.

It takes four hours to get from Phoenix to Seattle on a plane. Plus a one hour plane trip from Seattle to Port Angeles and then an hour in the car with Charlie. It was raining when I landed in Port Angeles, the default weather for the Olympic Peninsula. I stumbled over to Charlie; Damn my incoordination.

"Good to see you, Bella," he said.

"You too, Dad," I wasn't aloud to call him Charlie to his face. The car ride was quiet. Eventually, we got to the house. There was an faded red truck in the driveway.

"Did you get me a car?"

"Yeah."

"Thank you! I love it!" I said. Charlie mumbled something indiscernible. It took one trip to get my stuff upstairs. I put my toiletries in the single bathroom in the house and unpacked. Charlie left me alone. It was a relief to shed a few tears about the horrors that would come tomorrow, my first day at Forks High School.

The next day wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Breakfast was a quiet event because neither Charlie nor I were very talkative. I left and got into the truck. Time to see if it worked. The engine roared to life, thankfully. I drove to school aka the soon-to-be sight of my social doom. I parked in front of the office and walked in.

"I'm Isabella Swan," I said to the woman at the desk.

"Of course," she said, collecting some papers. "Here's you schedule and a map of the campus." She gave me the papers and a slip for each teacher to sign

I reparked my truck and trudged off to English, my first class. I walked in and made a beeline for the teacher, Mr. Mason. He signed my slip, handed me a reading list and directed me to an open seat. I sat down and looked at the list. I'd already read most of the books on there. Good. I could reuse old essays. The bell rang and I tried to remember the way to Government, my next class.

"You're Isabella Swan, aren't you?" A nasal voice asked.

"Bella."

"Where's your next class?"

"Building four."

"Great. I'm headed over there. My name's Eric." I followed Eric to Building four.

The rest of the morning followed in a similar fashion. My Trigonometry teacher, Mr. Varner, was the only teacher that made me introduce myself. I had a feeling that we wouldn't get along. In every class, there was one brave soul who would talk to me. One girl who had sat next to me in Trig and Spanish walked with me to the cafeteria. She introduced me to some of her friends whose names went in one ear and out the other. It was then that I first saw them.

They were sitting in the corner, as far away from where I sat as possible. They were looking away from everything. There were five of them. All of them were inhumanly beautiful. One was big and muscular. He was sitting next to a perfect golden haired girl who should be on the cover of sports illustrated. Next to her was a tall blonde boy. Beside him was a small pixie like black haired girl. They fifth was more boyish; lanky, with untidy bronze hair. My muscles tensed and I almost snarled. I didn't know why. It felt like they were dangerous and that I should hate them. I did hate them. Vehemently. Irrationally. Unreasonably. The blonde boy glared at the others with an expression that could've been on my face but then stopped, looking surprised. The others looked surprised at him, too. The bronze haired one moved his lips, as if talking quietly. The blonde one looked toward me, still surprised. I wondered what was going on. I looked away.

"Who are they?" I asked the girl from Trig and Spanish. I remembered her name. Jessica.

"That's Edward, Emmett and Alice Cullen and Rosalie and Jasper Hale. They all live together with Dr. Cullen and his wife." Jessica said. Cullen. It sounded evil. I shook my head. Why was I so suspicious of them?

"They're all very pretty." I said.

"Yes! Don't waste your time, though. They're all together. Emmett and Rosalie, Alice and Jasper." Jessica gossiped.

"Have they always been in Forks?" I asked.

"No, they just moved here two years ago." She said. I felt a pang of relief and pity mingled with the hatred; pity because the Cullens clearly weren't accepted and relief that I wasn't the only newcomer. The blonde one, Jasper, looked at me again. Why did he keep looking at me like that? Did he have a crush on me? Why? He hadn't even met me. Then why was he looking at me? He had no right to stare at me! There I went with the hatred again. Jasper glared at his family and then looked at me, surprised again. I wondered what they were thinking...

Edward's POV

I nibbled idly on my bagel, just to look normal. But then I looked up sharply when I heard Jasper's thoughts. First they were the usual fantasies of massacring the entire student body. I had kicked his chair. Now they were completely spiteful.

I hate them, I hate them, I hate them. Why did they have to curb my appetite? I'm only staying because of Alice. What's it to them if I murder a few people? Why am I still here? Oh, right, Alice. Why did Alice have to come here anyway? Taking me away like that. I hate her, to- wait why in the world am I dissing Alice?

I looked at him, bewildered. He was glaring at us.

"If you want to go, just go." I said softly, to confused to sound angry. He switched his glare to me.

Damn mind reading vampire. I hate you too! I know you can hear this!

His thoughts were interrupted by Alice.

"Leave? Leave? What are you talking about, Edward? Who's thinking about leaving?" She asked. The table erupts in quiet conversation, Rosalie saying she'll kill whoever makes us move, Emmett saying it's a joke and Alice questioning me.

Why am I thinking about leaving? I can't leave Alice! What the heck is wrong with me? Oh, right, I hate them. Why? Can I hate Esme? No, I can't, can I?

Apparently, he can. Loathing clouded his memory of Esme, beautiful and pure Esme.

"How can you hate her?" I asked, bewildered. I noticed the table has gone quiet, Rose glaring at Emmett, Emmett at Alice, Alice at me and Jasper at everyone.

Crap. I can hate her. Why? What did she do to me? Is there something wrong with m-

Jasper slowly turned to stare at the new girl, Bella Swan. She looked away, but not before I caught the glare on her face that had been identical to Jasper's.

"Edward, I think we have a problem." He said.

"That's problems, plural, Jasper, because I can't hear her." I said.

"What's going on, Edward?" Alice asked.

"It seems the Swan girl is rather spiteful of us," I said. "We can discuss this later. We're going to be late." We walked out quickly. I walked next to Jasper, wary of another outburst. I'd had an ulterior motive for getting us out of the cafeteria. I doubted that Jasper could deal with another emotional outburst and his thirst.

Once we were out of range of Bella's emotions, I walked to Biology, leaving my siblings. I went into the classroom and sat down. Bella came in with Angela Webber, a kind girl. I wondered if Bella was hateful to everyone or just us. I was sitting next to the only empty seat in the room. I started to clear my books to make space for her. Maybe I could figure out why she hated us so much.

Bella Swan walked in front of the heater that was blowing towards me.

Her scent hit me like a train, like a battering ram, a wrecking ball. There was no image violent enough to express what I felt in that moment.

In that instant, I was nowhere close to the human I was pretending to be. I was a predator and she was my prey. She looked at me and the shock I saw on her face saved her life. Then I realized that there was an edge to the scent. A wet dog smell was creeping in. I wondered what was going on. I continued to fight with myself; the vampire part of me wanting her blood, the reasonable part of me begging the vampire part to wait until we were alone. Bella walked toward the teacher's desk to get a slip signed. I was still warring with myself. Poor Bella had to sit next to me for the whole period. She came and sat down. I edged my chair away and, to my surprise, she did the same. The reasonable part of me wondered what she was thinking...

Bella's POV

As soon as I sat down, Edward Cullen's glare intensified, if that was possible. My muscles tensed as if I should fight him. I felt a hatred of him. But it was dulled, a dim imitation of the fury I felt earlier. I also felt an elusive pull toward him, like he had a gravity that was pulling me closer. It was faint but it was there. I wondered what was wrong with me. Then the smell hit me. It was faint, slightly sickly sweet. It mildly burned my nostrils. But other than that, his scent was utterly intoxicating. I scooted my chair away. Maybe his scent was intoxicating and I was going crazy. I looked at him. He wasn't breathing. I sniffed my hair. It smelled like my strawberry shampoo. Edward was still glaring at me. We sat like that for the whole period.

When the bell rang, Edward shot out of the room at a barely human speed. I wondered what his problem was.

While I walked to Gym, Mike Newton asked me a question.

"Hey, did you stab Edward Cullen with a pencil or something? I've never seen him look so mad."

"No." Once again, I wondered what he was thinking...

Edward POV

When I was sitting next to her, so close to the end of class, the end of me being in the presence of her scent, the wet dog smell got ever so slightly stronger. And her temperature increased. And she was a sixteenth of an inch taller, a length to small for human eyes to notice. As soon as the bell rang, I had bolted, almost forgetting to seem human. I ditched Spanish, Mrs. Goff wouldn't mind, as I already knew more Spanish than her. I played a CD in my car, waiting for me to calm down and a reasonable time for me to go to the office and switch my Biology with something else.

I wondered where Alice had been. Hadn't she seen me kill the Swan girl in a multitude of ways? She must've been focused on Jasper. I found her mental voice in her English classroom. To no one's surprise, she was concentrating entirely on Jasper, analyzing every minuscule detail to the ninth degree.

The period was almost over, so I decided it was time to put my plan into action. I got out of my car and walked into the office.

"Mrs. Cope?" I asked. Her heart fluttered.

"Oh!" She exclaimed, smoothing her shirt. Silly, she thought to herself. He's young enough to be my son.

I leaned forward. This should be easy. Her thoughts were already in a flutter. The bell rang.

"I was wondering if you could help me with my schedule. Is there any way I could switch to senior level Physics?" I asked, making my voice compelling.

"Physics is already full, Edward, you know how Mr. Banner doesn't like more than twenty five students in one class." She said as the door had opened and the wind blew the scent- her scent- towards me, a little more marred by the wet dog smell than in Biology. I knew my eyes were black as midnight.

"Thank you for helping, but I can see that it's impossible."

I ran from the building. When I slid inside the Volvo, I gasped for breath.

"Edward?" Alice asked, alarmed.

I just shook my head at her. "What the hell happened to you?" Emmett demanded, distracted, for the moment, from the fact that Jasper was not in the mood for his rematch. Instead of answering, I threw the car into reverse. I had to get out of this lot

before Bella Swan could follow me here, too. My own person demon, haunting me... I swung the car around and accelerated. I hit forty before I was on the road. On the road, I hit seventy before I made the corner.

Without looking, I knew that Emmett, Rosalie and Jasper had all turned to stare at Alice. She shrugged. She couldn't see what had passed, only what was coming.

She looked ahead for me now. We both processed what she saw in her head, and we were both surprised.

"You're leaving?" she whispered. The others stared at me now. "Am I?" I hissed through my teeth. She saw it then, as my resolve wavered and another choice spun my future in a

darker direction.

"Oh."

Bella Swan, dead. My eyes, glowing crimson with fresh blood. The search that would follow. The careful time we would wait before it was safe for us to pull out and start again...

"Oh," she said again. The picture grew more specific. I saw the inside of Chief Swan's house for the first time, saw Bella in a small kitchen with the yellow cupboards, her back to me as I stalked her from the shadows...let the scent pull me toward her...

"Stop!" I groaned, not able to bear more. "Sorry," she whispered, her eyes wide. The monster rejoiced. And the vision in her head shifted again. An empty highway at night, the trees

beside it coated in snow, flashing by at almost two hundred miles per hour.

"I'll miss you," she said. "No matter how short a time you're gone." Emmett and Rosalie exchanged an apprehensive glance. We were almost to the turn off onto the long drive that led to our home.

"Drop us here," Alice instructed. "You should tell Carlisle yourself."

I nodded, and the car squealed to a sudden stop.

Emmett, Rosalie and Jasper got out in silence; they would make Alice explain when I was gone. Alice touched my shoulder.

"You will do the right thing," she murmured. Not a vision this time—an order.

"She's Charlie Swan's only family. It would kill him, too."

"Yes," I said, agreeing only with the last part.

She slid out to join the others, her eyebrows pulling together in anxiety. They melted into woods, out of sight before I could turn the car around.

I accelerated back toward town, and I knew the visions in Alice's head would be flashing from dark to bright like a strobe light. As I sped back to Forks doing ninety, I wasn't sure where I was going. To say goodbye to my father? Or to embrace the monster inside me? The road flew away beneath my tires.


	2. Chapter 2

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN TWILIGHT, JUST THIS FANFIC**

Chapter 2  
Bella's POV

The next day was better and worse. It was better because it wasn't raining yet, though the clouds were dense and opaque. It was easier because I knew what to expect of my day. Mike came to sit by me in English, and walked me to my next class, with Eric glaring at him all the while; that was flattering. People didn't look at me quite as much as they had yesterday. I sat with a big group at lunch that included Mike, Eric, Jessica, and several other people whose names and faces I now remembered. I began to feel like I was treading water, instead of drowning in it.

It was worse because I was tired; I still couldn't sleep with the wind echoing around the house. It was worse because Mr. Varner called on me in Trig when my hand wasn't raised and I had the wrong answer. And it was worse because Edward Cullen wasn't in school at all.

I'd spent all morning dreading lunch but when I looked at the Cullen table there were only four heads. I still felt the same unjustified hatred toward them and Jasper occasionally glared at them all. When this happened, they looked at me expectantly.

I was confident when I walked into Biology, knowing I wouldn't have to face Edward's death glare. I was relieved to have the desk to myself. But I couldn't stop the nagging suspicion that I was the the reason for his absence. It was ridiculous, egotistical and not to mention impossible that I could affect anyone so strongly. Yet I couldn't dispel the worry that I felt over if it were true.

The rest of the day went by without any unusual occurrences. It put me on edge. It seemed hotter than usual but that might've just been me. As I drove home, I turned the heater down in my truck. It didn't do anything. Huh. Maybe the heater was broken. I got home and parked the truck. The silence sounded ominous. I went to my room and checked my email.

My mother was impatient, it seemed. She must've forgotten how slow the internet was here. I was still on edge from the heater thing and the calm and the silence, so I was annoyed by her constant messaging.  
Mom,  
Calm down. I'm writing now. Breathe, relax. Don't do anything rash.  
Bella

I sent that then began writing another one.  
Mom,  
It's raining. School is great but repetitive. I was waiting for something to write about. I write again soon, but I'm not going to check my email every five minutes.  
Bella

I decided to go for a walk in the woods. I had finished my homework, a product of a slow social life, so I had nothing to do until Charlie got here. I walked away from the house.

To my surprise, there was a trail. To my annoyance, it wasn't very clear. There was green everywhere. Like an alien planet. The trail curved and twisted, like a writhing snake. The trail got less defined, blending with the normal ground. After five minutes, I realized there wasn't a trail anymore. I must've missed a turn and gotten lost. Damn it. I continued to wander, direction less.

I must've walked for a good thirty minutes before I came to the stream. It was surrounded by pine trees. There wasn't a clearing. The stream itself was small. I heard a very low and quiet growl behind me.

I whirled around. In a tree was a five foot long mountain lion. It was as tall as my waist. The mountain lion prepared to pounce, its muscles tensed.

I acted on instinct. My vision took on a reddish tint as the mountain lion sprang. Right before the lion landed on me, something fantastical happened. My muscles tensed and white fur burst out of my skin. I grew bigger, as large as a horse. Instinctively, I lashed out at the big cat and found it cowering in fear. Its claws had barely cut my skin. Already, I could feeling the slashes healing.

 _What the hell?_ A deep, male voice said in my head. It was so clear, I could've thought the voice was next to me. My momentary surprise saved the lion. It bolted, back toward wherever it came from. I listened for the voice and found an image of running. I followed that perspective. I heard a faint howl.

 _What is it, Sam?_ Another voice asked as I became aware of another perspective, this one also running.

 _Bella Swan?_ This first voice, Sam, asked.

 _How the hell do you know my name?_ I thought. I was scared. I looked at myself. White fur covered me. Had I turned into a polar bear?

 _You turned into a wolf. You're a werewolf._ Sam said. At that point, I declared myself insane. There were voices in my head who answered my thoughts, knew my name, and told me I was a werewolf. Maybe Edward's scent drove me to this...?

 _Oh, that explains the fast transformation._ Sam said; no, Sam said in my head, because I had to be crazy, right?

 _You're not crazy._ The other voice said. Now I knew that I was a lunatic because what kind of non fruit loop has voices in their head saying that they're not crazy?

 _Sam, how could she phase so fast? It's only been a day._ The other voice said. _When are you going to stop calling me the "other voice"? My name's Jared_. Great. Just great. The voices were introducing themselves.

 _Jared, keep an eye on her. I need to talk to the council._ In my head, I saw Billy Black, Harry Clearwater, and another old Indian I didn't recognize. Sam's perspective left. I started running, trying to escape my insanity.

 _No, don't run! I need to find you!_ Jared said. _I have a date at five! If I can't find you, Sam's going to give me hell!_

I ran faster, trying to avoid the voices. The speed was exhilarating.

 _Bella, how can I put this so you'll believe me? You're not insane and I'm a real person, and you. Are. A. Werewolf._

I ignored him.

I ran like that for days, ignoring the voices. Sometimes they would leave me alone, others they would beg me to come home. Occasionally, Sam used a tone I felt almost compelled to follow, yet a more urgent pull was leading me north. It felt similar to Edward's gravity, I realized one day; I had lost track of which day it was.

Jared was stunned by my realization, speechless.

 _It's twelve thirty am on Saturday, Bella._ Sam said.

 _La la la la la la,_ I thought, testing if it would drown out the voices. It didn't work. Sam spoke again, sounding annoyed.

 _Bella, please be serious. Charlie's been worried sick about you. Billy convinced him not to say that you're missing, but that won't last long. None of us know where you are. You could be in Brazil if we didn't know how long you were running. You haven't slept since the day you disappeared, Wednesday, and you haven't eaten since lunch that day. We don't know how you're still going. You're running on empty, Bella. Come home and we can teach you how to become human._

Wow. I had been gone for three days?! I hadn't stopped. I was so shocked that I forgot to keep running. I took in my surroundings, something I hadn't done since the mountain lion attack. I was in a snowy clearing, with sparkling ice crystals on the ground. Huh. I wasn't even cold. There was a city smell, metallic and rubberish.

 _Snow? Jared, we found her! Bella, go towards the city!_ Sam ordered in that compelling tone. It was sort of in the direction of the pull, so I had no choice but to do what he said. Then Sam was silent, paying attention to the images that flashed in Jared's head. I ignored them. I ran toward it passing a sign. I stopped and walked back toward the sign.

The Juneau AK hunting  
law states that no poa-  
ching can be done on

The Glacier Bay Natio-  
nal Park and Preserve.

Huh. I was in Juneau. I noticed that the fact barely registered with Sam and Jared. They were thinking about the pull that I felt. Sam was remembering the first time he'd seen his fiancé, Emily. In the memory, she was beautiful. He'd felt the same pull I felt now. He felt it everyday when he looked at her. Jared was also remembering a girl; his girlfriend, Kim. He'd felt the pull too. Impossible, Sam thought. A werewolf imprinting on a vampire?

 _It could happen,_ Jared said. _Once in a Blue Moon._

 _It must be something else,_ Sam thought. He was remembering a council meeting. Everything he thought was automatically downloading to my brain; like a file uploading to a computer. We shared the memory of the council meeting, the legends of the cold ones, of imprinting and werewolves. I started to doubt that I was insane. What kind of mental illness could dream this up?

 _Jared, we have to get to her. Phase and meet me at Harry's,_ Sam thought.

 _Why Harry's? Seth and Leah will be there._ Jared asked.

 _Because we need a truck. One of us will maintain the connection. Actually, you go to Harry's and get the truck. I'll meet you there as a wolf and get in the truck bed. If Harry's awake then explain. If not, leave a note where Seth and Leah won't find it._ Sam ordered. I could hear the mental stumble over Leah's name. As soon as I noticed it in my thoughts, a flood of memories downloaded to my brain. She'd been Sam's fiancé when he imprinted on Emily. He still felt bad for dumping her for what she would've seen as no reason. Huh. Apparently, being a werewolf was worse than I'd thought. Gah! I was not a werewolf! I was a loony! And I couldn't accept that I might be a werewolf because then I would be even crazier! Maybe Charlie had me tucked away in some institution. Poor Renee. She'd watched her only daughter walk away from her only to go insane.

 _Ugh! Bella, you are not insane! How many times do we have to say this? You. Are. Not. Insane! You. Are. A. Werewolf! You. Live. In. A. World. Of. Werewolves. And. Vampires._ Sam thought in the compelling tone. Suddenly, I felt my mental walls crumble. My defenses against believing this were gone. Because I'd always known Edward Cullen was something else. If that something else was a vampire, then so be it. If he was a vampire, than I could believe that I was a werewolf. Then it hit me. Crap. I was a werewolf. A lost werewolf. I had no sense of direction but the pull. I couldn't stop running. Now that I'd acknowledged that I was a werewolf, the pull was stronger than before. I had to follow it.

 _No_ , Sam thought, _Stay where you are, Bella!_ But I'd finally found a way to drown out his voice. The pull was too strong to resist. I followed it as I left the world behind.


	3. Chapter 3 Part 1

**I still don't own twilight.**

Chapter 3

Edward's POV

I knew I wasn't alone in the dark wilderness. I should have known Tanya would've followed me here. I'd come to this spot to mull over the decision of when I should leave. I'd already hunted, so the only question was whether I should leave today or wait till tomorrow. i had been here for five days and it wasn't helping. I was horrified with myself for barely being able to resist killing the Swan girl.

Tanya jumped from a nearby rock into the snowbank. Tiny white fluffs flew everywhere.

 _Cannonball_ , she thought.

I didn't react.

 _It was just a joke, Edward,_ she thought in an apologizing tone.

"And it was funny," I said, forcing a smile.

 _Kate and Irina say I should leave you alone. They think I make you uncomfortable. I don't mean to,_ she thought, apologizing again.

"You really don't," I lied smoothly.

"I'm sorry if I'm being rude," she said.

"Not at all. In fact, I'm the one who's being rude."

"You're unhappy here. It's not helping to be away."

"No, it's not, sadly."

"It's my fault, isn't it?"

"It has nothing to do with you."

"If you want to go, then go," Tanya said, echoing my words from earlier in the week. "I have to hunt." And then she was gone. I looked up at the stars. Alice would see me coming and tell the others. This would make them happy. I got up. If I ran I could be back to Carlisle's car in an hour….

I barely registered Tanya's shriek of surprise from behind me. I scanned her thoughts. All I saw was a limping white wolf. I figured Tanya was fine. I continued running, figuring that the pull in the other direction was just my imagination.


	4. Chapter 3 Part 2

**Disclaimer:**

 **Genie: you have three wishes! You can have anything...**

 **Me: I wish to own the twilight saga!**

 **Genie: ...except twilight.**

 **Me: damn**

Chapter 3 Part 2

Bella's POV

I was starving. I knew that Jared and Sam were close, hopefully with food, and if I stopped they would catch up. But I couldn't stop. The pull was stronger now, as if I were closer to its source. Sam had given up on ordering me to stop hours after Juneau. I figured I'd been running for roughly twenty hours since Juneau because it was dark out again. Now that I was conscious of how long I'd been running, I was exhausted and hungry. I thought that I was somewhere around Denali. I continued to drag myself through the woods, though slightly slower.

Then I saw it. Food. On legs. Sort of. It was a elk. I acted on wolf-instinct. Crouching, I stalked the elk, silent as a shadow. My white fur was perfectly suited to this. I sprang, sinking my teeth into it's throat and breaking its neck. Behind me, I heard a growl and then a roar.

Quickly, I spun around. Towering over me was a huge black bear, standing on its forelegs. It attacked me and I was to weak from hunger and exhaustion that I could barely raise my paws to defend myself. The bear crushed me under itself. I heard a distinct cracking. I barely noticed Sam and Jared joining me in wolf form. I howled in pain.

Suddenly, the bear was pushed of me by a pale blur. The sickly sweet scent burned my nostrils. The blur, Sam identified it as a vampire to Jared, lunged for the bear's throat and broke its neck. The vampire stayed still as she drank the bear. I would've turned my head but I couldn't move because of the position I was in, laying on the ground and the broken bones. I assumed I cracked a few ribs and broke my leg. I watched the vampire. She had long strawberry blonde hair that fell to her waist. When the bear had gone dry, the vampire turned her onyx colored eyes to me. I whimpered and tried to get up, unsuccessfully. I settled for snarling at her. She paused.

I could feel that Sam and Jared were not far, when, inexplicably, they phased. What the heck? Why were they abandoning me? I tried again to get up. Finally, my claws founds purchase in the powdery snow; a rock. I stood up, trying not to put weight on my broken leg. I snarled at the vampire again, only this time it sounded more threatening now that I was standing. She continued forward. I lunged at her. She danced away, shrieking in surprise. I growled.

Sam and Jared burst into the clearing, in their human forms and only wearing trousers. I stumbled toward them as fast as I could, whimpering in pain. Halfway there, I collapsed out of the excruciation. It felt like my bones were trying to mend themselves. Jared ran toward me, dropping to my level. Sam continued walking toward the vampire. Jared touched my broken leg and I howled in pain.

"Shh, shh, Bella," Jared said soothingly, like talking to a scared animal. It wasn't fond, just comforting. "I'm here, I'm here. Look, this is going to hurt but we don't have any morphine, so just remember that it's necessary." I looked at him questionly. We were interrupted by Sam, who was a few steps ahead of us and looking at the vampire.

"Listen, vampire," he said, "We don't want any trouble here. Could you just let us help Bella?" he pointed to me.

"Sure. I hear wolves make dangerous pets, though. Is that wolf named Bella?" she asked innocently. I growled at being called a pet.

"We're werewolves." Sam clarifies. The vampire hisses. I had forgotten about Jared's inspection, and I howled when he touched one of my ribs.

"Shh, shh," Jared said.

"Werewolves are not welcome here," the vampire said.

"We'll be out of your hair in no time but you're distant cousins don't seem to have a problem with us."

"The Cullens? Ohh, Ohh, you're the shapeshifters Carlisle talked about. He must've wanted to keep us from being alarmed at the mention of Children of the Moon," the vampire said thoughtfully. Jared touched another of my ribs and I howl again. I was exhausted; the pain was the only thing keeping me awake. "Does that hurt? I think we have some morphine in the house and surely you'd like to rest." I wanted anything but that. THe pull had changed, it was leading south now, the opposite direction of where the vampire was pointing. Sam looked at me and he must've decided that I couldn't do without those things. He reluctantly agreed. Jared picked me up and princess carried me toward Sam. I could tell he would've slung me across his back if he could, but with my ribs in this condition, that was out of the question.

"I'm Tanya," the vampire, Tanya, said.

"My name's Same and this is Jared and Bella," Sam introduced us. That was the last thing I heard before fading into unconsciousness.

Third Person POV

Carlisle was surprised to get a call from Tanya so soon after Edward had left. He answered on the first ring.

"Tanya?"

"Carlisle, thank goodness! This is Kate actually. Tanya's busy"

"What is it, Kate?"

"Umm, well, Tanya seemed to have ran into some of your wolf friends while hunting..."

"Oh, no! Is she hurt? I wonder what they were doing so far away..."

"Well, she's not, but-"

"Did she hurt one of the wolves? Was she with anyone?"

"No, but one of the werewolves was attacked by a bear-"

"Why on earth are you trying to save a bear?"

"NO, Carlisle, the wolf was hurt and can't phase back. She's got all of her ribs on her right side are cracked-"

"Wait, she? Her?"

"Yes, Carlisle, it's a girl, now please let me finish! All of the ribs on the right side are cracked plus her right leg. The bones are mending faster than we've ever seen and they're setting wrong because she still can't phase."

"Okay, listen, Kate. Load her up enough morphine to knock out a herd of elephants. Tell her to phase. Once she's human, giver her more morphine and re break her bones and use a brace to make sure that they set right. You'll want to make sure that she has something to bite on so that she doesn't scream."

"Okay, thanks. Can I keep the line open?"

"You probably should." Carlisle heard Kate tell Carmen to get the morphine. He wondered which of the Quileutes had phased. Until now, he'd assumed that werewolves were extinct. But Kate had said that Tanya had run into a few… And then there was the fact that a girl had phased. After the fateful run in with Ephraim Black, Carlisle had done much research on the shapeshifters, and never in the history of werewolves was there a female. Now, apparently, there was.

A crack came from the phone.

"Ahh! Carlisle, her bones are rebreaking because she phasing!"

"Don't be alarmed, Kate. If the bones had set completely, then they're breaking so the she can phase. You might want to get that thing that she was going to bite down on."

" 'Kay." Carlisle heard her tell Carmen to get the piece of wood.

"And she might Bleed, so get Carmen and Eleazar out of there. The other males should leave, too."

"Why?"

"A werewolf's clothes don't appear and disappear on command."

"Oh."

"You might want to get her something of Tanya's."

"No, Sam says he's got some of her own." Carlisle remembered when Sam Uley's fiance, Emily, had come into the emergency room smelling like werewolf. He had wondered why.

"Good." While they'd been talking, Kate had been ordering people in and out of the room to get things like morphine bandages and more wood. There was a constant sound of a howl like scream and cracking in the background. "Kate, is she alright? It shouldn't take this long."

"Well, I think that because she has to break her bones to turn human, but I can hear the others wondering if she's slow because she's barely Quileute; What is that any way?; or because this is her first time phasing or because she's female or all three."

"The Quileutes are an indian tribe that live around here; they're the ones that carry the werewolf gene."

"Hmm."

"Are all of the bones that set wrong breaking again, or just some of them?"

"What do you mean?"

"You said she cracked all of her ribs on the right side and a leg. Is she rebreaking all of those bones?"

"I'll have Tanya check." Carlisle heard Kate tell Tanya to approach slowly.

"Why Tanya?"

"Well, we didn't have a lot of morphine, just a few syringes for emergencies, and, according to the other werewolves, the instinct to attack vampires is very strong while they're in wolf form. It becomes even stronger when they can't think rationally or blinded by pain, in this case. So I was on the defensive so I kinda accidentally shocked her while she was a wolf. Now she's scared of me. According to the werewolves, it's like singing a shock collar to train a dog."

"Huh."

"Yeah. That's why I'm the one holding the phone and standing in the corner. Irina is out hunting and Tanya gets to deal with the crazed werewolf." Carlisle heard Tanya say a expletive to Kate.

"Do you know why they were so far North?"

"Huh? I didn't hear you. Wait I've got the report. She's almost done phasing and all of her ribs and her leg are broken."

"Good. Now as soon as she's done, get some braces on her. You might have to wait till she's calmed down because young werewolves a supposed to be volatile. I asked why they were so far North."

"Well, the guys won't tell us anything because of the desire to remain unnoticed. I'm breaking the rules here by talking to you. They seem pretty eager to get back and that's got Tanya disappointed. I think that she thinks they're hot and that's why she brought them here." Carlisle heard Tanya yell at Kate.

"She shouldn't even think about them that way. One has a fiance. By the way, the girl should be okay to travel in an hour-ish."

"Really? That fast?"

"They're werewolves, Kate and it's a good thing that they heal fast. Have you felt their temperature? You can't exactly go to a hospital when you're so hot that you should be dead."

"Oh. Huh. Oh, she's done."

"Be careful. Like I said, they're volatile."

"Yes, Carlisle, because a sleeping person is oh so volatile."

"What?"

"The others are saying that she's been running for days nonstop. She's exhausted."

"Hmm. When do they plan on leaving? Do they have a car? She shouldn't phase for a couple of days, at least."

"They have a truck. They want to leave as soon as possible."

"They can leave in an hour, but don't let her drive and have her keep the braces on for a couple of hours. It's two days drive from there to here, if they're not partial to any particular route."

"Okay. Oh, Irina is back, so I have to go. Bye."

"Say hi to Elezar for me, will you? Goodbye, Kate."

The line disconnected. Carlisle wondered who the werewolves were and if the treaty still stood. He assumed it did. He remembered two disappearances in the last two years. Sam Uley had been missing for weeks. Jared Cameron was gone for only a few days. He wondered which girl had phased. Suddenly, he heard a commotion from downstairs.

"Alice? Alice what is it?" Jasper asked.

"No! Edward!" Alice exclaimed, horrified. Carlisle was downstairs in a second

"What is it, Alice?" Esme asked. "What happened to Edward?" Alice looked at Jasper. Rosalie and Emmett walked in; they had decided to start the night early.

"Bella Swan's future just disappeared."

"What do you mean, just disappeared? She's been missing for days." Rosalie said. Carlisle looked at her.

"She's been missing? They haven't sent out anyone to search for her. How long did you say?" Carlisle asked. He felt the beginning of an idea forming.

"Well, they haven't made it official, but she hasn't been at school since Wednesday. Nobody has seen her since that afternoon." Jasper said.

Carlisle almost laughed. Maybe it was just because he'd had werewolves on his mind, but it suddenly clicked.

Bella Swan was the third and female werewolf.


	5. Chapter 4

**A/N: Please read this. I'm going to clarify a few things that I've been asked about. The reason Alice only saw Bella's future disappear after she was at the Denali's was because Bella wasn't making any important decisions so her future went on it's prearranged course. When she made decisions that changed her course as a werewolf, her future disappeared because Alice can't see werewolves. Does that make sense? Also, I only post author's notes when there's something that needs to be clarified or when there's an important piece of info that I can't include in the story. And I'm sorry for not updating, but I have to deal with life, too. I made this chapter long to make up for it. If you have questions about the story, pm me. To the readers who have read this: You are the best.**

Chapter 4

Bella's POV

I dreamed that someone was pouring bleach on my face. It burned my nostrils. Then it changed to water. Salt water.

I gasped and shot up. The movement sent pain flaring through my torso. I looked down. I was wearing jeans, a T-shirt and a scarf that wasn't mine. My right leg had a black boot on it. I had a brace under my shirt.

"About time, sleepy head. Now we don't have to deal with your incessant sleep talking." I blushed and looked around. I was in the passenger side of a blue truck. It smelled like the ocean. Sam was leaning on the open window. Hanging on the rearview was a familiar looking picture of a girl about nineteen and a boy about fourteen. They looked related. Outside the truck, there was snow covering the ground.

"What the heck?" I asked. I faintly remembered pain, Jared carrying me to a house, pain, a blond vampire stinging me, more pain, then a blissful numbing, then Sam telling me that I had to calm down to phase. I remembered starting to phase but then I slowed because of excruciating pain, but the process was not going to stop. Every second was agony. Then it stopped and I had fallen unconscious again. Now, the house and the vampires were nowhere to be found. The truck was parked in front of a Seven-Eleven.

"We left the Denali's. We're in Dease Lake, Canada. Jared and I have been switching off, I drive for twelve hours, he sleeps for twelve hours. He's in there, getting food," Sam said, pointing to the Seven-Eleven.

"You should've woken me."

"Nah, you needed sleep after running like that. May I ask why bleach is so important that it made you stop talking about intoxicating scents and mini gravities?" Sam asked. I took off the scarf, which was were the burning smell had come from.

"That's for me to know, and you to never find out."

"I doubt that I'll never find out… just like I'll find out what gravity and scents have to do with each other. It'll just take me a two days," he assured me.

"What's so special about two days?"

"That's when it'll be safe for you to phase and run patrols."

"What am I patrolling for?"

"For vampires other than the Cullens," Sam said. Jared walked out of Seven eleven holding three bags of beef jerky, a box of granola bars, and a pack of water bottles.

"Sam get in the back, it's my shift," Jared said. He turned to me. "Toss these in the back seat, will you?" he said, handing me the granola bars and water bottles. He walked around the truck and got in the driver's side, taking out a Sharpie. He wrote each of our names on a bag of beef jerky. He put Sam's in the glove box and handed mine to me.

"That's kinda childish, isn't it?" I asked.

"Yes, but this way we know whose beef jerky is whose," Jared said. A thump came from the truck bed when a phased Sam jumped onto it. I turned around. The truck bed was covered with a tarp that was held in place with bungee cords. I figured that the sight of a sleeping horse sized wolf might freak people out. Jared starts the truck and backs out of the lot.

"Where'd you get this truck? It isn't stolen, is it?" I asked. It seemed like a possibility given Sam and Jared's appearance; shirtless and threatening looking.

"It's Harry Clearwater's. He's in on the wolf secret," Jared said, laughing. That explained the saltwater smell. I knew that Harry had taken Charlie for fishing trips all too often….

"Crap!" I exclaimed, banging my head on the glove box for being such an idiot and not listening to Sam and Jared.

"What is it?" Jared asked, looking slightly alarmed.

"What the heck am I going to tell Charlie? I'm a horrible liar and he'll know if I use a story that's not full proof. Can I just tell him the truth?" I asked, knowing the answer would be no. Why, oh, why couldn't I have just done what Sam and Jared when they told me to come home, then I would be at my house and the lying would over with.

"Well, you could tell him that you're half wolf then try to save him from the heart attack that he might have, or you might have to run away from the mental institute people that he'll call. So it would probably be a bad idea if you told him. And he doesn't know the legends, so he can't guess."

"Ugh! Why couldn't just follow you two home? I. Am. An. Idiot." I said, banging my head against the dashboard.

"That's actually not you're fault-" Jared tried to say, but he started choking on something.

"Jared? Jared, are you okay?" I asked. Jared cleared his throat.

"Yeah, that happens some times." he said apologetically.

"Now, what were you saying about it not being my fault?" I questioned.

"Oh, umm, it's nothing. You could tell Charlie that you got kidnapped," he changed the subject, but I knew he was hiding something. I would take him by surprise later.

"No! Are you insane!? He'll want to catch the kidnappers!" I was shocked at Jared's suggestion.

"Oh, I guess I didn't think of that," he admitted.

"He's the Chief of Police, for God's sake, Jared, and his daughter gets kidnapped after she moves from what he considers to be a murder capital of the US to his small, safe, little town. Of course he'll want catch the kidnapper!"

"Okay, how about this one: you were kidnapped and they put you in a room of an abandoned building. The walls are cracked. You took off a piece of sharp drywall to use as a knife when escape. They decide to move you so they threw you in a van and you saw through the rope that you were bound with. You fight for control of the van when it crashes. You ran out while the others are still dazed and either the van blows up or it falls of the edge of the cliff."

"It's better but where's the van? And my bruises? Plus, Charlie knows that I couldn't fight my way out of a paper bag."

"But as a wolf you could."

"But am I going to tell him that I'm a wolf?"

"Point taken," he concedes.

"Speaking of being a wolf..."

"What is it?" he sighed.

"So… what's it like? What do we do? How often do we phase? Do we have to wait for the night? Are we immortal? Do we have other powers? Am I the only girl? Why am I the onl-" I started to interrogate him but he cut me off.

"Woah, woah, woah. Slow down! You don't want to tie your tongue in knots," Jared said. I waited for his answers.

"We can phase at any time. No need to wait until the full moon or anything like that. Silver bullets work on us, but real bullets would do a fine job, too. We certainly aren't immortal, but we stop aging until we stop phasing. And we can't even think about quitting yet. We fight vampires. The Cullens are a family of vampires. The last pack forged a treaty with them, because the Cullens- and apparently the Denali coven- drink animal blood. But the Cullens attract other vampires, ones that drink humans. We fight those ones. We don't have other powers. You are the only girl. It's just you, me and Sam. Another female might turn into a werewolf, it might not. Who knows?" he took a breath. "You asked what it's like? Well, since we didn't think we were crazy like you did," he smiles at me, "we turned out a little different. For me and Sam, I guess everything's all sugar coated now, so the only unbiased part we have was probably in the beginning. Sam was gone for weeks, phased, and running around in the woods. He thought he was crazy. When he finally calmed down enough to phase back, he wouldn't tell anyone he was gone. But then old Quil touched him and knew the truth."

"What do you mean touched him? How can you know someone's a werewolf by touching them?"

"Bella, you're in a t shirt and youve been sleeping with the window open. Were in canada and there's snow on the ground. You don't even have goose bumps." Wait, really? I looked and my arms. They were as smooth and pale as marble, but definitely not as cool.

"Oh."

"I was different, because I had Sam to tell me what to do. At first I didn't listen, because we all have that brief period where we think that we're insane, but for some it's longer than others," he looked meaningfully at me, "I still couldn't get calmed down enough to phase. So Sam had me run patrols, figuring it would help me focus. That's when our system was developed. Sam was out of school, so he could run during the weekdays. I did six hours every night. but for weekends, we switched, he did six hours and I did eighteen. I guess we'll have to figure out a new schedule now that you're here."

"I don't understand. What are we patrolling?"

"We're looking for vampires. We patrol the Quileute border."

"Jared, I'm not a Quileute."

"I know that. I'm not stupid. Look at me compared to you. But you must be part Quileute to phase.

"That's not my point. Look, with all due respect, if a vampire comes any where near anybody that I love in Forks, then I'm going to forget the Quileutes and protect my loved ones. No matter what you and Sam have to say about it," Jared looked nervously at the bed of the truck, holding one hand up for me to stop. "Aah! Eyes on the road, Jared, and hands on the wheel!" I screeched. He listened and smiles at me. "I was raised to abide by traffic laws," I murmur, embarrassed at what was probably an overreaction.

"That's another thing about being a werewolf. There are Alphas and Betas…. And Omegas..." Jared cringed at the mention of Omegas.

"So who's the Alpha? The Beta? And what's an Omega?" I asked.

"Sam's the Alpha. Now that you're here I guess I'm the Beta. Betas aren't a necessary member of the pack. They're just a formality."

"So how does it feel to be just a formality?" I joked and Jared chuckled.

"Actually scratch that. It's going to be fun being a Beta," he said. I looked at him. He explained, "The Alpha can order people to do stuff. Sam only uses does it if he's serious. Betas, well, they can't order people around, but they can boss people around. I won't be able to contradict the Sam unless it's serious, and I'll only be able to create little loopholes. I doubt that'll ever happen though. But… the best part is, while I can't get you to do serious stuff, I can get you to do other stuff…." Jared grinned a grin so evil that it had me worried.

" Order me to do something."

"You should eat something first."

"Fine." I started to eat the beef jerky, realizing for the first time that I was ravished.

"Ok..." Jared waited until it was in my mouth. "I order you to eat the beef jerky." he said laughing. It was nothing like the compelling tone that Sam had used. Too late, I saw his trap. I had already swallowed.

"Hey, no fair! That doesn't count!" I said, pouting like a three year old. Jared just laughed.

"It only works when we're in wolf form. Believe me, I'll have you doing handstands and cartwheels in a few days," he said, grinning like a maniac.

"So am I the Omega, then? Isn't that greek or something?" I asked.

"No, you are not the Omega, thank goodness. Omegas are trouble makers, rulebreakers, rebels. If anybody in the pack displeases the Alpha, then he can make them an Omega. There's only been one in the history of werewolves and nobody talks about him. His imprint went insane when she saw one of the pack phase and then the Omega almost massacred all of the werewolves." Jared explained. I shivered. "Don't worry about it; it's not that important."

"Is there other stuff I shw about being a werewolf?"

"Yes. Well, sorta."

"What are you hiding?" I asked, suspicious.

"Well, since I'm _not_ hiding anything, then Sam did _not_ tell me not to tell you what it is." he winked at me. We both heard the growl that came from the truck bed and we both ignored it.

"Are Alpha orders really that easy to defy?"

"They're called edicts not orders and no, it shouldn't be this easy," Jared looked thoughtful for a second and then brightened. "I think I just created a Beta loophole!"

"Does you're loophole include telling me the secret?"

"Sadly, no. Although, I'm _not_ not entirely sure what secret it is. The Alpha has the advantage of hiding his thoughts from the pack, and Sam closes his off whenever he's got a secret or something he knows I don't want to hear."

"So, you know he has a secret, but you don't know what it is and you can't tell me anything about it?"

" _No,_ " he said, but he was winking and nodding his head. Sam growled again.

"So, can you create another loophole for the thing you were hiding earlier?" My plan worked, he wasn't expecting me to bring that up now. "You know, about it not being my fault for not listening to you?" Even though I remembered the strange pull, now that I was human I couldn't imagine something so strong that I could ignore the compelling orders from Sam, now known as Alpha edicts.

"Oh, er, umm, I don't think I can and even if I could, I don't want to abuse my Beta power and have Sam give it to you." Sam made a rumbling sound, not a growl but not a purr; almost like a grunt of approval A question struck me.

"Hey, should he be making noise? I mean, if we can hear it, then any other person who might be on the road can." To, my surprise, Jared laughed.

"Bella, Sam is outside of the cab of the truck, covered with a tarp, we're driving and the wind is howling. Do you really think a normal person could hear his quiet growls?"

"Wait, a normal per- oh. We can hear him because we're werewolves. But I thought we only had those extra senses when we're wolves?" I asked.

"It's like- and I hate to use this reference- but it's like dog breeding. If you breed a poodle with a bloodhound, sometimes you'll have a dog that is absolutely gorgeous that can walk a runway at any time and do it with grace and style. At other times, however, you'll have a dog that was born to hunt, a dog that can follow a scent trail for miles. Most of the time, though, when there is no runway or scent trail, you'll have a dog that can smell an open can of dog food from a mile away, like a bloodhound, and can do flashy tricks until you give the food to them, like a poodle. That's what it's like for us at times like these. We have the magnified senses of wolves but we have the reactions of a human. So when Sam growls at something because he's annoyed, we laugh. We don't cower in fear like a wolf would when we hear the displeasure of the Alpha. We laugh or we frown or we ignore him," Jared explained. Sam growled at the latter. Jared chuckled.

"I know I'm not supposed to phase for a few days, but how do we do it? I can't remember much from the first time, but I would like to know for future reference."

"Well, the first time you turned into a wolf, it was because you were being attacked by a mountain lion, right?" he didn't wait for my answer. "For me and Sam, plus the other werewolves of the Quileute legends, we first phased when we got angry. For you, however, it was because a protective instinct was triggered. I don't really know what the reason for the difference is, so you should bring this up with Sam. Now, when you're a wolf, all of your human emotions are dulled, like if you're sad or in emotional pain, it wouldn't hurt as much when you're a wolf, because wolves don't have the capacity to feel that kind of thing. But if you feel a strong emotion, one that can't be dulled then a wolf can't contain. So then you phase. It doesn't have to be an emotion. Just something that's so strongly human that it can't be encompassed by an animal. Eventually and inexplicably, we don't have to rely on our emotions to phase. It's really complicated and even I don't fully understand it. You really should ask Sam about this kind of thing." Jared said.

"But I'm not asking Sam. I'm asking you," I persisted.

"But I'm not answering you. I'm telling you to ask Sam," Jared mimicked my tone, not giving in. Oh, well. I was bored now. Time to have some fun… **(A/N: Bella and Jared might get a little OOC in a second...)**

"So you're saying that Sam knows more than you." I stated.

"Yes…," Jared was unsure as to where this was leading.

"So Sam has more knowledge than you."

"Only on this subject…," Jared corrected, still unsure. Sam growled.

"So Sam is smarter than you," I pronounced, ignoring Jared's last statement. Sam grunted in approval. You could always count on males to be competitive over even the most trivial things.

"No… well, I'd say we have the same level of intelligence," Jared added after Sam snarled.

"You sound hesitant to say that,"

"Well… er… um… I'm not, okay?" Jared was scrambling.

"Aren't you?" I pushed my luck. Knowing that I would twist anything he said, he compromised to poke me whenever I asked a suggestive question.

"That's not a yes..." he poked me.

"Are you communicating through pokes because you don't have the required brain cells to talk?" Another poke.

We continued the car ride like that, me coming up with jibes and him poking me. I'd dozed off a few times. I didn't understand why I was so drowsy. The most likely possibility was that I'd been running four days. But I had a feeling that there might be an additional cause. The possibilities ranged from a theory that phasing took extra energy to the idea that Sam and Jared had drugged the water. I hoped that the last one was a product of sleep deprivation and not something that my brain actually put any thought into because I did not like the idea of Jared Cameron drugging me.

After a particularly long nap, I realized that we were at another gas station. To my surprise, no one was with me. I was about to get out of the truck when I heard a whine from the back. A gray-brown head appeared from a hole in the tarp. I figured it wasn't Sam, because there was something about Sam's demeanor that said that, wolf or no wolf, Sam didn't whine.

Speak of the devil, Sam appeared in the doorway of the convenience store. He walked over, carrying two coffees, a pack of Cokes and a bag of chips. Sam clearly had better taste than Jared, but I found myself wishing that Sam had grabbed more beef jerky. I looked in the back seat. The water bottles were still there, just in case. Apparently, Jared had a taste for granola bars, because they were all gone. Sam got in the car, started it, and put his stuff in the back. He handed me a coffee.

"Thanks," I said, sniffing it. There was a sweet smell, not like the overpowering, overbearing, burning, sickly sweet smell of vampires. It was sweet like a syrup or sweetener. A thought struck me. "How did you know that I liked coffee?" Sam looked uncomfortable.

"I'm not sure if you realized this… you probably did, but you were absently wishing for coffee a lot in the last couple days," he admits. Huh. Have I? "And since we can hear each other's thoughts… I didn't mean for it to be creepy or anything."

"About the thoughts thing… Can you hear me now? Is there any privacy at all for me and Jared?"

"We can only hear you when your wolf. And no, there is no privacy. Whatever you think about, we will know."

"So why did I phase when I was attacked, not when I was angered?"

"That, we can only guess. The council will probably have a few theories."

"So… Is there anything thing that I should know?"

"Yes. There will be somethings that Jared and I can help you with and some things that we can't. It'll be complicated, since you don't live on the rez or go to school there. The main thing is to control your temper and keep the secret. You can't tell Charlie, for more reasons than what Jared told you."

"Oh, really?"

"Yes. We have a treaty with the Cullens, and we can't violate it, or it will mean war. We can't tell the humans about them and they can never bite a human. I still don't fully trust them, though. I mean, they're vampires, aren't they?" Sam said. I wonder if he has a prejudice against them.

"What will I tell Charlie?" I asked, hoping that he has a viable excuse.

"Well, for the long term, that depends on if he's nosy and will notice you sneaking out," Sam began, but I was already shaking my head. Charlie has been away from me long enough that he'll be worried about not frightening me with condescending questions. Sam continues, "But for the short term, I was thinking you got lost in the woods? Or we could go with Jared's kidnapping thing. Or that you ran away. Or that you hit your head and was unconscious with or without slight amnesia, when Jared and I found you and reminded you where you were and stuff. Then the amnesia wore off. I'm thinking the unconscious without amnesia is the best we can do."

"Hmm," I thought for a moment. Charlie wouldn't like the idea of me unconscious in the woods, but if I paired it with that I was lost, tripped, but close enough to society that no predators were able to find me. I nodded slowly. "Okay."

Sam laughed.

"What? What's funny?" I asked,praying that I wasn't oblivious to something embarrassing that he was laughing at.

"I'm laughing because of shock, Bella. Any normal person would be running and screaming right now. I told Jared when he was phased the first time, and I made sure that he didn't know how to phase back and run away screaming that's he's crazy and that I'm crazy. You're strong. You don't see yourself clearly."

I thought about this notion. I thought we'd come to terms with the fact that I had come to terms with the fact that I was a werewolf a long time ago. But here was Sam, telling me that I was strong and proficient with something. Apparently, I was good with weird. I had always been average, never bringing in anything astonishing. I gave up on any special aspirations I had a long time ago, yet here, now, Sam was telling me that I was better at something than Jared or him. I didn't know what to make of it.

I thought about this for a long time before I realized that I was fighting sleep. I gave up, resigned to that if I was tired, I was going to sleep anyways.

I woke to Jared shaking me. Rain was thudding against the roof of the truck. I bolted upright, confused with my mind befuddled from sleep. Jared was still shaking me. I yanked his arms off me.

"What are you doing?" I demanded.

"Woah, I was just trying to get you up, yeesh," he defended himself. I looked out the window and saw that we were driving through an unfamiliar, yet quaint neighborhood, if you could call it that.

"Where are we?" I asked, less antagonistic. Jared looked at me to answer but I cut him off before he started. "Eyes on the road, hands on the wheel."

"We don't need to do that. Our reaction times and speed are much better than that of a human's," he muttered, forgetting that I could hear. I let that one slide. "We're in La Push. It's close to Forks," he added at my confused look. "Charlie is at Billy's place. We're going to Sam and Emily's to get your story straight. And get a proper meal. We'll be there soon." As he was talking, I noticed the houses getting farther apart and the neighborhood turn into a street of houses and woods. I wondered why Emily's place would be so far away from any specific community. Unless she was an introvert, but from Sam's memories, I knew that she wasn't.

"Sam left a few minutes before you woke up. He went to warn Billy that we were coming and to check on the imprints. And don't stare at Emily. Sam hates it when people do that," Jared said. The houses were slowly disappearing, and my wolf nose smelled the salt water scent getting stronger.

"What do you mean? Why would I stare?" I quickly went through the memories of Emily that Sam had shared. None of them had showed something that would make me stare…

"Let's just say that it's dangerous to hang around werewolves if you're not a werewolf. Sam doesn't like to think of her how she is now. It reminds him of what he did. In his eyes, she's perfect, but he made that perfection invisible to everyone else," Jared warned. I wondered briefly what happened. Mentally, I shrugged. I would know soon enough.

"Will it just be Sam and Emily there? Or will Sam not be there? Or does Emily stay somewhere else if hanging around werewolves isn't a good thing?" I asked. It seemed odd that Sam and Jared were going to Sam's fiance's place, unless Sam stayed there, too. But if Sam didn't want to hurt her, then…? Jared laughed.

"Her place is like our headquarters. Sam wouldn't be able to bear hurting her again, and he physically can't. That's the thing about imprinting. You can't bear to see an imprint- anyone's imprint- in pain because of the shared pack mind. Sam could barely handle him hurting Emily, but he was okay since it was just physical pain, pain that she could heal from. But it'll tear him apart if she ever has to feel more pain caused by him, even if it's a papercut. He can't even phase around her. We know it's an emotional, not a physical, block. He could get over it, but he doesn't want to. It's complicated," he explained. It occurred to me that it would be a bad idea to have wolf pack headquarters in the middle of a cul-de -sac; that must've been why Sam and Emily had picked a house so far away from any neighbors. It also occurred to me that maybe the neighbors, if there were neighbors, were people in on the pack secret. "We're here," Jared told me, jolting me out of my thoughts. I hadn't realized he'd parked the truck. He sniffed the air. "Mmm, Emily is cooking. Good."

I got out of the truck and ran toward the house in an effort to get as little soaked as possible, not caring if anyone saw my inhuman speed. It might be hard to pretend I was human during Gym. Jared wasn't as lucky. He slammed the truck door closed, the movement propelling him forward on the slippery mud. He fell on his back and slipped again when he was getting up, falling forward. I was gripping my sides with laughter when he managed to finally stand up, looking like a swamp monster, covered in mud and twigs. He walked forward slowly, casting suspicious glances at the mud as if it was going to trip him. I laughed harder. The door behind me opened.

A girl came out looking around. I assumed she was Emily. She was wearing an apron. From my angle, she looked beautiful with her flowing black hair and petite features. Then she turned. I almost gasped, laughter forgotten. The left half of her face was marred by three scars, claw marks, I assumed. They turned the left half of her mouth in a permanent grimace. Thanks to Jared's warning, I quickly averted my gaze.

"What's so funny?" she asked, I realized I was still chuckling.I pointed at Jared. She looked at the swamp monster who was carefully picking his way toward her porch. The right half of her mouth turned up in a smile and it looked like she was holding back giggles of her own. "I'll get some towels," she said as she left, going back inside. Jared finally reached the porch. Up close, he was such mess, I burst into a fit of giggles again. He glared at me.

"Sorry… you're just… such a… mess!" I gasped between giggles. Jared kept glaring at me. Then, his eyes lit up like he had an idea. "Whatever you're thinking-" I only got that far before Jared shook like a dog, splattering me in mud. "Ew!" I said. Jared laughed, less annoyed now that I was dirty, too. Emily came out holding a stack of towels.

"Do not(!) walk into the house till you're cleaned up. You will not dirty my floors," Emily ordered, looking threateningly at Jared. Then she saw me. "Oh, that goes for you to. I'm Emily, by the way." She held out a hand, but then thought better of it and let it fall to her side.

"Bella," I said. She left me and Jared to get cleaned up.

After Jared and I dried ourselves off, we walked into the house to face the delicious aromas coming from the kitchen. The dining room was off to the left, the kitchen off to the right, with a peninsula separating it from the entry way. The stairs led to the second story were placed between the dining room and the living room, which had another door, leading outside, in the back. Emily was pulling out muffins from the oven. Jared pulled one from the tray, then dropped it.

"Ow!" he exclaimed.

"Shoulda waited for them to cool off," Emily chastised. I chuckled. It was clear that Emily thought of Jared almost as a brother-in-law. I guessed that he felt the same way about her. Jared walked into the living room. I followed him and Emily put the muffins in a bowl on a table in the middle of the living room. Sam walked in through the back door. He grabbed a muffin, dropping it like Jared had but then catching it before it hit the floor.

"Damn, these muffins are hot," he mumbled. Emily pecked him on the cheek before returning to the kitchen. "Charlie's been pacing a hole in the floor since you went missing. Poor Billy has to keep reassuring him that we'll find you. He was over the moon when I told him that we found something of yours."

"What? What did you tell him you found?" I asked. I didn't carry any trinkets or jewelry around. Charlie knew that. Except…

"This," Sam held up the pieces to my silver bracelet. I had been wearing it when I'd phased, but I assumed it would've been lost. "We need to get our story straight," Sam continued.

"Okay, how about this: She tripped over a small cliff and-" Jared started, but we cut him off.

"NO, Jared!" Sam and I said, almost in unison. Emily rolled her eyes.

"We need a _plausible_ idea that we _can fake evidence for,_ " Sam said, emphasizing the parts where most of Jared's ideas were lacking.

"I think the most likely story is that I went for a walk, got lost hit my head, and stayed s for blood loss?" I offered, forming the statement as a question.

"That might work, but you'd need a blood transfusion. We can't fake a blood transfusion, so it would have to be real and you'd have to actually need one. The only way to make you actually need a blood transfusion was if you were greatly injured and that's ify cause you're a werewolf and you heal fast. The injury would have to put you on the edge of life, and we can't do that," Sam explained. "We could have you with a concussion instead?"

"No, I don't think you could fake that either?" Emily asked. I hadn't realized she'd come into the room.

"Oh, I know! How about a mountain lion chased-" Jared started again.

"NO!" This time, Emily joined in the collective protests. I had a sneaking suspicion that Jared either wasn't fully sober or that he was just pulling our legs. I thought back to what was in the truck. Had there been an almost full beer bottle in there? Suddenly, I wasn't sure. Before I could follow that train of thought, I had an idea regarding a more pressing issue.

"I know! I got lost in the woods, wandered around, for a couple days, tripped, hit my head, fell unconscious for a couple more days, then you found me," I suggested. Even though the idea was out there, it was more plausible than me getting kidnapped or falling off a cliff in the safe and sound town of Forks. I highly doubted that the police department had ever encountered even a thievery.

"But why didn't you wake up sooner?" Emily asked. It seemed she would test every idea out to the ninth degree and the rest of us would be left patching up the holes.

"Blood loss?" I tried. Sam raised an eyebrow. "No, no, not so much blood that we'd need a transfusion. Just enough to make it believable that I would've been unconscious and when you finally find me, enough to make it believable that I'd be wozy and slightly off balance. That way, we can avoid questions until I 'heal'. By then, it wouldn't be important how much blood I lost, just how I lost it. So then Charlie wouldn't bother checking if I lost any blood at all."

"Umm." Sam was confused.

"So, basically, I pretend that I've lost blood, but not enough to need a transfusion. I pretend to be wozy and not thinking straight so Charlie will hold off the questions until I pretend to heal. By the time I 'heal' it won't matter to Charlie how much blood I lost or what other injuries I 'have' because I'll be 'healed' from all of them. Does that make sense?" I asked. Jared was idly playing with a string on the couch, reinforcing my idea that he wasn't sober. I remembered that the beer bottle was still almost full, so he might not be drunk but he was definitely under the influence. I was jolted out of my thoughts by Emily.

"You'll be good at this," she said, smirking. At my confused glance, she added, "At coming up with lies to keep the secret."

"Telling them will be a different matter. Bella, how are you going to act this out? You couldn't lie to save your life. No offense meant, but I doubt that you could even act dizzy," Sam argued.

"I stole some painkillers from the blonde leeches. We could use that," Jared suggested. I guessed he meant morphine by painkillers, and that leech was slang for vampire. Sam and I ignored him, me hoping that I was wrong and that he hadn't touched alcohol for the last month.

"We'll figure something out. But if you said you found my bracelet, aren't we on a time limit to get me to him before he starts thing I'm dead or something?" I asked, trying to get my bad acting skills out of the spot light. "I mean, don't we need fake injuries on me? I don't know, like cuts or something?" Sam left to go get something. Emily looked at me, analyzing the best possible places for where the fake cuts should go.

A few minutes later, Sam had fake blood and temporary cut tattoos. I wondered why she would have those things. Did they have to do this for Jared? I figured it might come across badly if I asked. After all, they seemed like good people...

Emily left the room at one point and came back with some rags.

When we were almost done making me look like a lost person, I worked up the courage to ask.

"Where did you get this stuff? I mean, do you do this often?" I questioned, trying not to sound paranoid. Emily laughed.

"Jared bought it. Even if we were going to go with his kidnapping plan, you'd need battle scars," Sam said. He threw me the rags that Emily had gotten. "Go change. There's a up the stairs and to the right."

After going into the bathroom and locking the door, I looked at the rags. To my horror, they were the clothes I had been wearing when I was phased. Emily had sewn them back together, discreetly hiding the seams with dirt and leaving some rips. I was in awe of it. How elaborate would they make this ruse? How could it be so important to keep the werewolf secret from Charlie?

While these questions filled my mind, I quickly changed. With the clothes on, I looked like I'd been stranded on a desert island. My hair was a mess, one spot sticky with fake blood. That was supposed to be where I'd hit my head. I unlocked the door and went down the stairs. I was halfway down when some instinct told me to pause. I stopped.

"What is it, baby?" I heard Emily ask.

"It's her, Emily. She's a werewolf," Sam said.

"So?" Emily was confused. I wondered who she was and then realized it was probably me. I was the only female werewolf. Right?

"Why didn't she become an imprint? We thought the wolf gene was only in males. And even if it was possible, she shouldn't have become one. Charlie isn't related to any living Quileutes, because if he was, we'd know. The same goes for the non-living. He must have some ancestor that goes way back, and if he does, that ancestor must've broken off the tribe. Nobody has broken off the tribe except… but even then the gene should've panned out after all these years. And yet, just because some leech was glaring at her, Bella phases like she's a direct descendant. With just two days of exposure to the bloodsuckers! Something's off. Something is going on," Sam said. I heard Emily start to speak, but then a door opened and Jared's heavy footsteps walked into the room. I walked in, too, satisfied that any conversation that would go on now was not going to be worth getting caught.

"Hi," I said, while Sam looked at me, checking that I had no traces of anything modern. "I'm done changing."

"Good. Now we have to address you're acting skills," Sam said, smirking. I bit back a groan.

"Oh, oh, I know!" Jared was grinning devilishly.

"Whatever it is, I'm not doing it," I was afraid that whatever he was thinking, it wouldn't be good for me. I was also afraid that somehow, the idea would make some kind of sense to Sam, and then I'd be forced to endure it.

"But you haven't even heard what it is!" Jared protested.

"Fine. What is it?" I asked, giving in. I was honestly curious, even if it meant that I would be subjected to whatever Jared had dreamed up.

"Why don't we just take you to Hogwarts, become leeches, and drink Voldemort's blood?" Jared said. We all stared at him. I was pretty sure he wasn't drunk, because he wasn't swaying or anything, but he certainly wasn't sober.

"Jared, are you drunk?" I asked, already knowing the true answer.

"No, of course not, Jingles," he said, "That's what I meant to say! We should get you drunk! Voldemort doesn't have any blood, but if you're drunk, we can eat his liver!" I was positive that the bottle in the truck was his. Before I could do anything, however, Sam grabbed Jared by the scruff of his neck and towed him out the back door. Emily and I followed.

"DRUNK? DRUNK?!" Sam roared. I wondered if this was a reoccurring thing.

"No, no! It was just a little bit," Jared tried to reason with him. "Just an inch off the top. It won't happen again, I promise!"

"Oh, you can bet it won't happen again. Because the next time, I'm telling Kim!" Sam threatened. I guessed that this was a recurring incident.

"Fine, fine but don't tell Kim this time! Please! I'll stay here and let Emily watch me while you're gone! I won't even touch a bottle, just like I did before Kim left! Just don't tell her! She'll kill me!" Jared begged Sam. The threat had seemed to sober him up. I looked at Emily, confused.

"If you do it again, I'll tell her. I'm sure you'll get a proper lecture if that happened," Sam smirked. They went back inside. I smelled a coffee aroma from the house. I was still confused. First of all, if a little bit of alcohol got Sam so mad, what was the point of drinking? Why did just a little get Sam so mad? And Jared should be acting this drunk if it was a little? Second, I'd thought Jared was still with Kim? Had she caused his drinking problem? Emily interrupted my thoughts.

"Kim tried to resist the imprinting at first," Emily said, reading my mind. "Most were very resentful toward her, since Jared showed up to school looking like a professional bodybuilder yet only had eyes for her. She gave up, but when she realized her friend had also turned against her, she kept trying. She left him for a few weeks, not going to school, pretending to be sick. It was completely out of character for her. He got drunk a couple times. Alcohol progressively affects werewolves more than it does people. First they're fine, then they show signs of just a little bit of influence then it goes to completely drunk. The good thing is that they can be snapped out of it, no hangover cure necessary. But you should see who it affects them when they're phased" she giggled. I wondered how often Jared had gotten drunk for her to figure all of this out. "That inch of beer was probably equivalent to two bottles," she added. I laughed. We went back inside to join the boys.

Sam had Jared on the couch, testing to see how drunk he was. Jared had a mug of coffee in one hand. Sam was holding up fingers, and Jared was saying how many there were.

"Why Jingles, Jared?" I asked him. I was honestly curious. In what world was I Jingles?

"Bella, Bellz. Bells, Jingles," he replied.

"Jared, you stay here with Emily. I'll take Bella," Sam said. I walked over to him.

Suddenly, Jared jumped up.

"I have another idea! Don't worry, it's a good one this time," he said. In that instant, I knew it wouldn't be good. Judging by the sigh coming from him, Sam didn't think that Jared had had a stroke of brilliance, either.

"What is it?" Emily asked patiently. Jared jumped toward me. I felt a prick my arm. Jared jumped backward.

"Jared, what the hell?" Sam asked. He couldn't have seen anything from his viewpoint but Emily looked horrified, seeing the syringe in his hand.

"JARED! YOU IDIOT! WHAT THE HECK WERE YOU THINKING?" she screeched.

"Well, the treaty would be relying on Bella's bad acting skills. If she had messed up, and Charlie got suspicious, the Cullens would kill us. They're soul less leeches. What else would they do? I'm protecting the treaty. Kim lives the closest to the boundary line. She'll be the first to go," Jared explained. Sam looked confused, looking from the syringe in Jared's hand, to me. I swayed, dizzy. Emily caught me.

"What the fuck, Jared," I slurred. "You'd drug me for a treaty? I'm sure the Cullens would like us so much better if they knew what we did to our own pack mates. What did you even use?" I had to remind myself to calm down. After all, Jared was drunk. He wasn't thinking clearly. Emily did not need a drunk werewolf and an angry drugged one in her house, fighting.

"Morphine," Jared admitted. Okay, so no lasting damage. I would've torn him to pieces had he gotten me addicted to heroine. Sam cleared his throat.

"While we definitely will discuss this incident later, now is not the time. If we wait to long, Charlie will get suspicious," he pointed out. I walked- no, swayed- over to him

Sam surprised me by picking my up, princess-carrying me. I heard a soft hiss of air blowing through someone's gritted teeth. To my surprise, the sound was very feminine. Apparently, Emily didn't like me being carried by Sam this way. I knew she couldn't help it, but I thought her response was foolish. Sam was hers and only hers, as any idiot could see.

Sam walked out of the house before bursting into a run. We were at what I assumed was Billy's place.

"Now, remember Bella, all you have to do is sway, act tired, and don't say anything unnecessarily," he reminded me.

"Right. Piece of cookie," I slurred. Sam chuckled. He stepped up to the door and went inside the house. My fatigued mind registered Billy staring at me. Charlie's back was to me. Next to Billy was a boy about fifteen who was also staring. I tried to remember if Billy had a son. I knew he had two twin daughters, both a year older than me. I dredged up a memory of me getting stuck with the boy when Charlie and Billy had went fishing with the twins. His name was… John? Joshua? Jason? Jax? Jack? Wait, it had been Jake, right? Jacob. That was his name.

"I'm going to set you down, Bella," Sam said quietly. I nodded. Charlie whirled around. Sam put me on my feet. I tried to walk forward, but the morphine had other ideas. The hardwood floor seemed to push itself up toward me. Instantly, almost as fast as a werewolf, Jacob was holding me up. I raised my eyebrows at Sam. Obviously, this boy was going to phase, someday. Sam nodded, reading my thoughts. Jacob shot a look at him. Charlie was still staring at me, taking in my ruined state. Billy spoke softly, so only Sam and I could hear.

"Wow, you guys are good," he whispered under his breath. Sam smirked. I'd thought only werewolves could hear that, but Jake raised an eyebrow at Bily.

"Hey," I said to Charlie in a quiet, tired voice.

"Isabella Marie Swan!" he yelled. "You have been gone for a week and You've worried me and Renee sick, yet you say 'Hey'? Just 'Hey'?"

I gulped.


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Bella's POV

I was asleep the whole rest of the night. Charlie was furious that I had gone into the woods alone but I thought I must've gotten off easy because it was my first week here. Renee was hysterical when I called her and I was thinking that I might have to fall asleep on my feet to get a break, but then Emily saved me. Apparently, she was a medical student. She said that I just needed rest to heal from my 'head wound' and gave me some 'painkillers'. She did that to justify my symptoms. It was an empty syringe. That left me with a whole night to sleep away.

When I awoke, it wasn't in the Blacks' living room where I had fallen asleep. I was laying on my bed. Charlie must've taken me home. I glanced at the clock. 5:30. Perfect. Still time to get ready for school. While I did not want to deal with the gossip storm, one more 'sick' day would only worsen it. I went downstairs

Charlie was watching the news.

"Hey, kiddo," he said. "You sure you should be up? I mean, I know what that Emily girl said but…"

"I'm fine, Dad," I assured him. I tried to remember what Emily had said, but it was all foggy because of Jared and the damned morphine. It was hopefully something along the lines of, 'No, thankfully Bella doesn't have a concussion, but she's lost some blood, so I recomend some rest,but she could school tomorrow as long as she doesn't strain herself.' Maybe I got lucky and Emily had told Charlie that I couldn't go to Gym. But then again, Gym probably wouldn't be a problem anymore, now that I was a werewolf. "Can I go to school today?"

"What? Why, Bella?" Charlie asked. "I mean, you've just been through a traumatic experience, Bella. Wouldn't it normal for you to stay home and stuff?"

"Dad, it wasn't that traumatic. I got lost in the woods and hit my head. Besides, I've been gone for a week. I don't need to miss anymore school work," I said. I did care about not missing school work, but the gossip was more important to me. I'd bet fifty bucks there was some scandalous rumor going around and I needed to stop it. "And I _want_ to go to school."

"Okay. Whatever floats your boat I guess," he conceded. Poor Charlie. He must've not known where to step with me. I was a minefield, full of surprises.

~o~

When I got to school, all eyes were on my truck as I pulled into the lot. Isabella Swan, the girl who went missing in the small, safe town of Forks, Washington. I could already hear the rumors forming. Perhaps I had gotten kidnapped, or maybe some mysterious ex from Phoenix had begged me to come home.

Jessica ambushed me outside of English, but then the bell rang, thank god. She started walking toward her first class, but then turned.

"You haven't avoided me, you know," she warned before continuing to walk. I figured that she'd be questioning me at lunch, where everyone would hear my answers.

In English, Mike sat next to me, but Mr. Mason started talking before he could converse. He slipped me a note, but I pointed discreetly at Mr. Mason. He kept looking at me as if he'd heard some of the rumors.

When we walked out of class, there were swirling bits of white in the air. Each flake melted once it touched me. At least I would never be cold again.

"Wow," Mike said. "It's snowing!"

Suddenly, a big, squishy ball of snow smacked into the back of his head. We both turned to see where it came from. Eric was walking away, in the wrong direction for his next class.

"I'll see you at lunch, ok?" I told Mike. I had no desire to be near him, as he was a popular snowball target. He just nodded, his eyes fixed on Eric.

Throughout the morning, everybody was excited about the snow. I didn't say anything. Sure, it was drier than rain- until it melted on your clothes.

I walked alertly to all classes, using a binder as a shield. After Spanish, Jessica and her crew finally caught up to me.

"Tough break, huh?" she said. "Got lost in the woods on your first week here." Damn it. I was going to try to pass my absence off on sickness.

"Yeah. Although I'm glad that somebody knows the truth," I said. Not, I added mentally. "You wouldn't believe some of the rumors I've heard." I knew she would believe them because she probably made half of them up herself.

"Well, maybe next time you go hiking, you could go with an experienced woodsmen like me," Mike proposed. Jessica sulked.

"Yeah, Mike, I don't think there will be a next time," I said. I had no desire to make enemies with Jessica.

That's when I felt it. The pull from Alaska. The one kept me running. I turned. It was coming from the Cullen table. That didn't make sense. They were vampires. The burning smell was meant to keep us away. Then what was the pull?

I listened to them with my amplified hearing.

"Umm, Jasper?" Edward asked. Jasper shrugged.

""I'm not even going to be surprised by what she comes up with next," Jasper said. Then Emmett threw a snowball at him, and another at Edward. They both laughed.

"Oh, Emmett, you're on!" Jasper proclaimed. Then Edward looked in my direction. It looked involuntary, as if someone had called his name. Our eyes met.

I gasped quietly once the connection was made. I felt like a blind man seeing the sun for the first time. I only had eyes for Edward. It felt like he was completing me, just by looking at him. He was my other half. It felt like someone was cutting my ties to the world one by one. Charlie, Renee, Jessica, Angela, Sam, Emily, Jared. They all didn't matter anymore. Nothing mattered. But as I looked into Edward's beautiful, golden eyes, a new tie was formed. There was Edward. He mattered. Just Edward. Even though it had only been a second, it felt like forever

Three things happened simultaneously.

Alice gasped, "Edward, no!". Edward looked away.

"Do you want anything, Bella?" Jessica asked.

And thirdly, I realized what had just happened. I had imprinted. On Edward. Edward Cullen. The leech. God, you have got to be kidding me. Crap. Damn it. I wanted someone to kill me now.

Because I. Imprinted. On. Edward. Freaking. Cullen. The. Leech.


	7. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Edward POV

As we walked into the lunchroom, everyone's guard was up. Emmett wouldn't let me go anywhere alone, and Alice was constantly scanning the future. Of course there was a chance that she wouldn't show up, but Alice had seen her red truck in the parking lot.

"She isn't here yet and if we sit at our usual spot, she won't be downwind," Alice said. Their behavior was ludicrous; I would be fine.

" _Of course_ we'll sit at our usual spot, Alice. I'll be fine," I said, walking in front of them. As we sat down, Alice blinked as her vision cleared.

"Hmm," she said, sounding surprised. "I think you might be right."

" _Of course_ I am," I muttered. As I sifted through the sea of thoughts, I was expecting to hear more about the Cullens. Surely Bella Swan had found some new acquaintance to confide into.

And yet, there was no one. Had she told nobody about the death glare I had given her? There was no way she had not noticed my murderous glances- she had even reacted to them. I was fascinated by her choice. Most adolescents feel a need to blend in with a crowd, like a featureless flock of sheep.

Just then, Bella and her friends entered the cafeteria.

"-got lost in the woods on your first week here," Jessica was saying. I listened without turning my head towards them.

"Well, maybe next time you should go with an experienced woodsmen like me," Mike offered. I felt a stab of jealousy but then realized what might happen if she had gotten lost in the woods with me around.

Just then, Jasper's thoughts took a different direction.

 _Hmm, I wonder what that pull is. Oh, it's going toward Edward! Maybe I should sit by him and Rosalie instead of Alice and Emmett._

"Umm Jasper?" I asked. Jasper shrugged.

"I'm not even going to be surprised by whatever she comes up with next," he said. Then Emmett threw a snowball at him and then at me. Hearing his intention in his thoughts, I ducked. Then I heard what I'd been searching the thoughts for. Our name, along with Bella's, popped up in someone's thoughts, a girl's.

 _Ugh, Bella's staring at the Cullens again. Wait, she isn't just staring at the Cullens, she's staring at Edward. As if he'd ever give her the time of day. I mean, he even refused me, and I'm much hotter than her. But of course he's so hot that she's already crushing on him. Poor girl._

As Jessica Stanley thought my name, I looked up involuntarily. It was a reflex. I was disinterested in whatever I would see.

But then shiny golden eyes met deep brown ones because sometimes, kismet happens. Alice and her visions have proved that, mostly. I heard her gasp quietly. She was staring at me as if she was seeing the sun for the first time. I'm sure that I was looking at her in a similar manner, just less intense. I was staring because I could feel a new tie forming, linking us together. It was strong. This new bond was more material than any of the ties that I had to my family.

"Edward, no!" Alice gasped the second that the connection finished forming. I looked away from Bella, scanning Alice's thoughts. Apparently, my future had disappeared. Before I could dwell on the fact, Jasper's thoughts caught my attention.

 _Ahhhh! This is bad, this is bad! We're all going to die! Ahhhh!_

 _Oh, but no worries, everything will be ok-_

 _AHHHH! WE'RE ALL GOI-_

 _Oh, I wonder what this connection to Edward means._

 _I love him. Oh, I love him!_

 _Hmm, what about this connection to Bella?_

 _AHHHHHHHH_

 _It's going to be fi-_

 _I love him!_

 _Oh, crap, I love him…_

 _AHHHHH_

Poor Jasper seemed to be pulled in all different directions by the variety of emotions coming from me, Alice and Bella. He was the most sensitive to Alice because she was his mate.

I heard Jessica ask Bella what she wanted, and realized that it had only been a millisecond since the connection had formed. Oh, no. that meant that Jasper and Alice's thoughts were going a mile a minute, so to speak. They were actually going much much faster than that. I heard Bella tell Jessica that she wasn't feeling well, and watched in Jessica's thoughts as Bella just bought a water. I felt worried about her, and then realized that I was only adding to the turmoil that was Jasper's thoughts.

"Jasper," I said. In this state, it would be easy for him to get overcome with the scent. He quickly caught on and sent a wave of calm to me, Bella and Alice. After Alice still didn't calm down, Jasper sent a wave of lethargy and even more calmness aimed just at her. Alice swayed, which was weird since she was a vampire, but I could tell from Jasper's thoughts that she wasn't nearly back to her normal self. Emmett and Rose were regarding us three with confusion.

"Not a word until later. We should discuss these new developments, but not here," I said. I mostly didn't want Jasper to spill the beans about whatever connection that Bella and I now shared. I turned to look at her.

As Jessica exited the lunch line, Bella's face lit up like she had an idea. Alice gasped and started hyperventilating. Jasper tried to soothe her, but he couldn't calm her down. He sent a wave of lethargy toward her, enough to make even a vampire curl up on the ground. It only helped to an extent; she stopped hyperventilating.

"Hey, Jess," Bella said, excited about her idea, whatever it was. "Has anyone ever tried to sit with the Cullens?" At this notion, Rose's head snapped up.

"No… I mean, at first some people went over there to talk, but Rosalie usually glared at them so murderously that they left before they got two words out," Jessica answered, confused. "Why do you ask?"

"Well, can you imagine what kind of things one might discover if they dared to sit with the Cullens? Like maybe Rosalie's beauty treatment?" Bella asked suggestively. Rose's eyes widened. Jessica now looked interested.

 _Hmmm, learning the beauty treatment for the supermodel?! But who would go over there… hmm, it would be plain awkward if I did it and I don't trust Lauren. Angela would ask about all the wrong things and completely ignore the important stuff like what Rosalie does to her hair… but who else would be willing to go? Wait, Bella! She could go! She doesn't know anything about how far the Cullens have gone to protect their isolation…_

Jessica's thoughts were completely focused on one goal: become as beautiful as Rosalie.

"Why don't you go over there? It's a great idea," she encouraged Bella. Bella started walking towards our table, which was on the other side of the room. Jessica speed walked over to hers, eager to see what would happen. Emmett's eyes were bugging out, Jasper looked like he didn't have any surprise left in him. Alice was scared to death and Rosalie was glaring at the ground.

"Jasper, I love you," Alice said, looking into his eyes. I realized I had been tuning out my families thoughts. I listened to Alice's thoughts, which were on the edge of hysteria.

 _WHY? WHY? I can't even see how we die! It must have something to do with Edward because I can't see Bella, either. So how can I prevent this?_

What the heck? Alice thought we were going to die?

"Edward!" she hissed. "Make a last minute decision!"

"Like what?" I asked. I wasn't sure what I could do to change the situation.

"Eat Bella!" she ordered.

"Why?" I asked, sniffing the air for Bella's scent. Before I could get a good whiff, I immediately stopped breathing as I watched Alice's vision. A war between something Alice couldn't see; Esme, Rosalie, and Carlisle dead; the Volturi coming to kill us and the entire human population of Forks…

I heard Rosalie's thoughts just then.

 _EDWARD! WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON? I'VE BEEN SCREAMING AT YOU FOR THE PAST TWO SECONDS!_

Wait, really? The past two seconds? I should've heard that…

"Later, Rosalie," I said.

Emmett wrinkled his nose disgust of something he smelled. I realized that Bella was still walking toward us. Had it really only been two seconds? Huh. I was so used to reacting to everything at a human speed that I had forgotten how fast events involving panicked vampires could be. Even at home we were subdued.

 _Eww, what is that wet dog smell?_

I heard Emmett's thoughts and sniffed the air. There was a wet dog smell and it was similar to the one the had been coming from Bella in Biology on that fateful day. It was also similar to… no. It simply wasn't possible. Then, I was struck by a realization.

"Hey, Alice," I said calmly. "About that war that I would've started with those things you can't see- what if one of them was approaching us? What if it's not our death that's ending you're visions of our future, but it's that something you can't see is interacting with us and our future will clear it up once it leaves?" Rosalie, Emmett, and Jasper widened their eyes at the mention of our demise.

"Oh," Alice said. She extricated herself from where she was hiding in her partner's arms. "But what's approaching us?"

All eyes turned to Bella except for Emmett.

"I believe," Emmett said, his nose wrinkled. "That a werewolf is." Alice, Jasper, and Rosalie looked at him in shock.

 _Wait, he's saying that Bella Swan is a werewolf? Imposible!_

 _Hmm, I can't see the werewolves. That's disconcerting._

 _Eww. A mongrel, coming over here? I'll never get the stench out of my clothes._

I looked over at Bella. She was winking at Jessica and mouthing, _don't stare._

The entire cafeteria hushed as her direction became more clear. They were preparing for Bella to get scared off by Rose's death glare. One problem though: Rose was too shocked to produce even the smallest of grimaces.

"Compose yourselves," I hissed at my siblings. They quickly switched their expressions from gapes to death glares, amused smiles, widened eyes and disinterested faces. Despite Rose's purely hateful look, Bella sat down in an open spot next to Alice. Her wolf scent made the scent of her blood less appealing.

"Hi," she started, her words echoing in the hushed cafeteria. "I'm Bella Swan. I don't believe we've met yet."

The cafeteria stayed silent for a few seconds. Then Bella looked meaningfully at Jessica, who initiated a conversation with Lauren about how she'd went shopping over the weekend. Conversation resumed in the cafeteria.

"Is anybody looking at us?" Bella asked. "Not like sneaking glances, but full on staring." I scanned the thoughts around me and shook my head.

"Great. So how are things on the other side of the treaty line?" she asked. We all gaped at her, wondering why on earth would a werewolf decide to "grace" us with her presence.


	8. Not a chapter

**A/n: This story will be on Hiatus until I get some inspiration to write some more chapters.**


	9. Adoption

**A/n: Look, guys, I'm sorry, but I kinda got bored with this story, so I'm putting it up for adoption. If you're interested, review or PM me and we can work out the details.**


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